Freedom
by screaming-poetically
Summary: What Elizabeth wants has nothing at all to do with what everyone expects. JackElizabeth.


**Title:** Freedom  
**Summary:** What Elizabeth wants has nothing at all to do with what everyone expects. JackElizabeth.  
**Disclaimer: **The names of all characters contained herein are the property of Gore Verbinski, Jerry Bruckheimer, and Ted Elliot. No infringements of these copyrights are intended, and are used here without permission.  
**A/N:** Spoilers for _Dead Man's Chest_.  
**Rating:** T

**Freedom**

_"The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore."  
-Vincent Van Gogh_

After they left Tia Dalma's, Will returned her to Port Royal. He said it wasn't fit that she, a lady of society, rove the high seas to God knows what end for a pirate. Elizabeth knew he just didn't want her fighting for Jack. Now that she thought back on it, Will most likely knew – the way she said yes, with a hunger in her voice that spoke of new love and freedom renewed… her voice betrayed her.

When Will asked her for the compass – "It'll be hopeless without it, Elizabeth, I must have it" – she denied him. Jack gave her the compass those many months ago in Tortuga, to find their way together, and she wouldn't risk anything happening to it now. She'd never let go of it. Nobody has heard from Will, or the unsavory crew he gathered to travel to the world's end to look for Captain Jack Sparrow. What remained of the crew of _The Black Pearl_ stayed behind in Port Royal with Elizabeth, and then traveled to Tortuga.

"You'll know where to find us, Miss Swann, if the need comes," said Gibbs.

Pintel nodded. "Aye, poppet. In Tortuga we'll wait, til you look for Captain Jack your own self."

She found it passing strange that Jack's crew had become loyal to her, and that they wouldn't travel with Will. It angered Will, when he left. He cursed the crew to hell, and Ragetti said a prayer for Will's immortal soul. Elizabeth found it endearing, and bought Ragetti a proper glass eye. She hoped he wouldn't lose it, but she knew he would before long.

Lately, though, she found herself thinking of what was supposed to be her wedding day. It all seems so long ago. Elizabeth thanks God for making it rain on her wedding day. If it hadn't rained, she would've married Will Turner, and then where would she be? She wouldn't have been able to kiss Jack on the _Pearl_ (and she can still remember just the way he tastes) and she wouldn't be free.

Not free to leave Port Royal if she wanted, to search for Jack. Not free to feel slightly breathless when she remembered Jack calling her "Lizzie." She wouldn't be free to despise James Norrington with a passion for nearly causing all of this to happen. Not free to drink more rum. Elizabeth has gathered a taste for rum these days, something her father abhors and the society ladies look down upon her for.

Peas in a pod, Jack had said.

More than he ever knew. No, Elizabeth corrected herself, more than he will ever know – because it's not over yet. She handled the compass in her hands, feeling the cool metal and etched designs on the cover. He had said that it points to what you want the most. She remembered the time when she had opened it casually on the decks of the _Pearl_ and it had pointed to Jack – he grinned lazily at her, and she knew that he knew.

Elizabeth knew that her father expected her to wait for Will, or die trying. If not, he expected her to wed Admiral James Norrington, to become a society wife and bear children. James didn't expect anything of her – he knew that she felt something for Jack, he knew that she needed freedom and the sea, and he knew that at heart she was just as much a pirate as Jack. All he wanted was someone to be there. And Will – he was gone, so it hardly even mattered.

She wanted fifteen men on a dead man's chest, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. She wanted the open sea, blue sky, and fair winds. She wanted _The Black Pearl_, the feel of a solid deck beneath her feet, and the taste of sea salt on her tongue. Hell, she wants Jack (misses him, desperately) and the comfort of seeing him, always, in the same wear with that same swagger. Jack was a safe harbor amidst the storm because he was ever the same.

Elizabeth clutched the compass in her palm and looked out from her balcony to the sea.

"I'll find you yet, Captain Jack Sparrow," she said softly. "I'll find you yet."

_Finis._


End file.
